Pathos of Magneto
Back in Uncanny X-Men 150 (1981), Magneto offers the world an ultimatum to give him absolute political control lest he destroy it
He has Cyclops and his current girlfriend Lee Forrester hostage
A Russian submarine attacks Magneto’s citadel on his island who retaliates by drowning it as well as drowning a Russian town in lava
A magnetic shield disrupts the X-men’s Blackbird while flying through Julienne’s Cay in the Bermuda Triangle searching where Scott and Lee last were
Forced to swim, they do so to the island where Scott and Lee happen to be and find them. Scott explains that Magneto is using an energy field that neutralizes mutant abilities
Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Colossus go to the room where Magneto designed a device capable of manipulating Earth’s crust
Storm, Kitty, and Lee go to the Citadel where Magneto sleeps
While the men destroy Magneto’s machine, Storm contemplates slitting Magneto’s throat but cannot do it
Magneto wakes and throws Storm magnetically out a window. Xavier attacks him psionically but Magneto resists
Magneto reassembles his machine easily. Storm destroys a computer that re-enables the X-men to use their abilities
Magneto and Storm duel. He uses Storm’s lightning against her
Kitty scrambles the computer that controls his weapon by phasing through it. Magneto angrily confronts her as she attempts to phase through him causing him pain but he retaliates by electrifying her
Thinking he killed her, he has a huge moment of clarity and introspection because she’s just a youth
His goal was only to create a peaceful world for mutants but he was so entrenched in his ideals that he did anything to achieve them forgetting that innocents were also hurt
Revealed he had a wife named Magda and a murdered child as well as being a Holocaust survivor which affected his outlook
Magneto disappears and Kitty turns out to be ok
In X-Men # 1 (1991), a pursuit between two space shuttles is destroyed by Magneto for coming near his home of the new Asteroid M
The recently reformed Magneto returns both parties to Earth. One of the parties (the pursued) claim to have sought out Magneto to pledge their service. They are mutants. Magneto claims there is no cause to serve anymore
Russian cosmonauts alert Moscow and Washington D.C. for retaliatory action if provoked as the incident in space happened 250km above Kazakhstan
Nick Fury contacts the X-Men about it who contemplate whether to take action against Magneto or not
Rogue gives Magneto the benefit of the doubt as does Storm because he was once an ally but Cyclops recalls how he was their greatest enemy before
Prof X advocates with Scott’s point and that they should prepare for anything, knowing Magneto’s disposition
The X-Men are split into the Blue Team and Gold Team
Instead of Earth where Magneto had said he would put the people in the space shuttle, he brings them onto Asteroid M
He tolerates no hostilities on his asteroid after one of the pursued mutants is killed by a pursuing American astronaut in retaliation for vice versa
One of the mutants, named Fabian Cortez, offers specific terms to Magneto, in turn to offer to “flatscans” (humans)
Magneto descends to Earth and levitates Leningrad, the Russian submarine he sank, planning to use its missiles as a defense
Cyclops flies in with the Blackbird, guns ablazing, ready to take Magneto down without so much as hearing Magneto out
Psylocke, Beast, Gambit, Wolverine, and Cyclops mercilessly attack him. He’s hit into the submarine where he sees the corpses and remains of the Russian submariners and feels guilt as he compares himself to Hitler and what he did to helpless Jews
Magneto ascends back to space and Rogue follows attempting to talk to him. Beast tells Scott to let her as they caused the confrontation
Rogue explains that Scott may have jumped the gun but Magneto gave him reason to by lifting the sub
Russian Air Force attack Magneto as a nuclear warhead then detonates. The X-men think it was Magneto’s sub but it is left ambiguous
Rogue wakes up in a hospital in Genosha which Magneto’s new followers attack since Genosha was formerly a mutant slave nation
The X-men arrive and confront them then Magneto appears and offers his terms which Fabian expounded to him: that Asteroid M is to be a sovereign state and a safe haven for mutants but that any hostilities towards mutants is an act of hostility towards him
Moira Mactaggert is unexpectedly upset and blames herself for all that’s happening as the story ends and is precipitating to Fatal Attractions